^^■■i^^ 



THE EARLY PHYSICIANS 



. . . OF . . 



VINELAND, N. J. 



COMPILED. 



Published by the 
INELAND HISTORICAL AND ANTIQUARIAN SOCIETY 

1903 



THE VIM BLAND PRINTING HOUSB. 



THE EARLY PHYSICIANS 

. , . OF . . . 

VINELAND, N. J. 



COMPILED. 

Published by the 

VINELAND HISTORICAL ANJ ANTIOUARIAN SOCIETY 

'I 

1903 



The VINELAND PRINTING HOUSE. 



Gift 

Tkt<^ Soft's :.r 
' Ja'05 



The Early Physicians of Vineland. 



Introductory. 

In 1 86 1 the tract of territory upon which Mr. Charles K. Landis 
proposed to establish his new colony, in the central part of the South 
Jersey peninsula, midway between the Atlantic Ocean and Delaware 
Bay, was an almost unbroken wilderness. It was a forest, mostly of 
oak scrub, devoid of cultivation, but largely despoiled of its chief value 
in the timber which had been carried off to feed the furnaces of the 
iron-monger who was its owner; then left for such restoration as nature 
unaided, and baffled often by forest fires, might accomplish. To see 
through and beyond the forbidding aspect of the scene at that time, 
with no attractive or agreeable feature, and behold a vision of a city of 
elegant and substantial homes with all the appurtenances of advanced 
civilization, surrounded by wide landscapes of high and tasteful culture, 
was in the founder, a thing of sublime faith in himself and his convic- 
tions. It is not surprising that for a time he found few to accept his 
rose colored views of the future of this rough wilderness. 

It is probable that for the first two years, '6i to '63, no very large 
additions were made to the scanty and scattered squatter population of 
wood-choppers and charcoal burners whom Mr. Landis found on his 
purchase. We have no knowledge of any resident physician in the new 
colony before 1863. In that year Dr. Chase, the interesting story of 
whose coming is so well told by his daughter in the first of the following 
memoirs, seeking escape at once from the rigorous climate of 
his native Maine, and from the hardships of medical practice 
there, came to Vineland for its milder climate, and for the opportunity 
it offered for a change of occupation. His purpose was to become a 
farmer, in which however he did not succeed. Demands for his profes- 
sional services were instant and continuous, and his ten acre farm lot 
remained unimproved until it passed into other hands. He was the 
pioneer of the craft, and for two years he had the field to himself. 

By the disbandment of the army at the close of the war for the 
Union in 1865, involving the discharge of hundreds of thousands of 
soldiers of all ranks, and scarcely less by the diminished production of 



military supplies no longer in demand, many men found themselves in 
the ranks of the unemploj-ed. Seekers of new homes, and of new occu- 
pations were many. This was the Founder's opportunity. Vineland, 
a new place, alreadj- of some positive attractions and of much promise, 
Avith the added charm of novelty of plan and pretensions, widely and 
well advertised, could not fail to draw many visitors at least. Of the 
many that came some remained. It was a period of rapid and substan- 
tial growth. 

When people came then also came the doctors. In that year, 1865, 
Drs. Cansdell and Ingram, both then recently discharged from service 
as surgeons in the army, came to Vineland, and though each bought a 
farm-lot of wild land, yet both engaged at once in the business of their 
profession. In the following year, 1866, Dr. Bid well, and a little later 
Dr. Brewer, both ex-surgeons, came, and Dr. Lane who had had 
experience in military hospitals. 

Dr. Wiley, in 1865, was the first, and for many years the onlr 
member of the corps of resident physicians who was a native of the state 
of New Jersey, and also the only one who commenced his professional 
career here, all others having previousl}^ practiced elsewhere. This 
unique distinction was his almost to the end of his life. 

The primary purpose of this work is of course to preserve some 
record of those physicians who, in the earliest period of this settlement, 
faithfully and successfully Served the community in the line of their 
profession, and have answered the last call which, sooner or later, comes 
to doctors no less than to their patients. In this connection it is inter- 
esting to note that so manj- of the memoirs in this collection are the 
graceful tributes of proud and loving daughters to the memory of theiy 
deceiased fathers. 

Besides the dead there are survivors j^et to be counted in. Dr. 
Bidwell and Dr. Brewer still living, and the latter still in the full tide 
of active professional work, belong distinctly to the same period, and 
sketches of their unfinished biographies are properly introduced. 

Besides those of whon- we have properl}^ authorized biographical 
sketches, there are some whom we think entitled to such brief mention 
as we can give them from such scanty information as we have. They 
will form the subjects of a concluding chapter. 



RUFUS MESSENGER CHASE, M. D» 



Communicated by His Daughter Miss Eliza E. Chase. 

Dr. Rufus M. Chase was born in Bridgeton, Maine, October i, 
1S14. His father was Rev. Riifus Chase, a Baptist minister. When 
a lad he attended Bridgeton Acadenn-. Afterward the family home 
was at Portland, Maine. He prepared for college at Kennebunk 
Academ\', but owing to impaired health he did not enter as intended 
upon the regular college course, but attended medical lectures at Dart- 
mouth, N. H., graduating at Bowdoin in the year 1840. 

For twenty-one years he practiced among the Maine hills, one year 
in Winslow, Maine, twenty in Somerset county in the village of Canaan. 
Often, in after 5'ears did he say that he regretted the twent5'-one years 
he rode over those hills, enduring the hardships common to a country 
doctor during a New England winter,' but the people of that Somerset 
county town and adjacent villages did not regret any of the years he 
dweltamong them, only his departure. Yet do many of the old people 
recall the time when he was their physician, although in the days he 
lived among them he differed with many of them often. 

A Republican from the formation of the party, a worker during 
the early agitation of the temperance question in Maine, he seemingly 
made many enemies as well as friends, yet even the former, in sickness 
and trouble, would have no other physician and in after years gave him 
a hearty welcome when he visited his old home. Dr. Chase was mar- 
ried twice. The death of an infant son was soon followed by the death 
of the mother. On February 17th, 1853 he was married to Abby H. 
Rollins. 

On account of the ill health of his wife, in 1863 ^^ decided to 
remove to a warmer climate. He learned of Vineland and visited it in 
the earty spring of 1863. He was not at all impressed by the appear- 
ance of the new town. In New England the spring was exceedingly 
backward. The northern states were visited by severe snow storms as 
late- as the first week of April. In Somerset county, Maine, the snow 
was deep, covering the fences. Ox teams could and did travel across 
country on the frozen crust of the snow. The contrast between Vine- 
land and his Maine home was great. There he had left winter; here, 
during most of his visit, was nearly summer weather. The edge of 
those storms may have reached Vineland, for when Dr. Chase arose one 
morning the ground was covered with snow. The chill of the atmos- 
phere added to his previous lack of enthushasm regarding the place, 
determined him to leave at once. He was prevailed upon to stay yet • 



one more aay. rJy noon tne sun was sninlng, tlie snow had disappeared 
and the place appeared to him in a more favorable light. When he re- 
turned home, he was the possessor of a Vineland farm, a few acres, un- 
cleared. He was going to Vineland, not as a physician, but as a farmer. 
He had always delighted to work in the garden, lo raise flowers and 
fruits. In a number of places where he boarded when a young man, trees 
he planted, half a century old stand now as his monuments. In his old 
home, what had been a brick yard had become one of the best gardens 
in the county. I have a remembrance of pans of peas in the house to 
i;prout and thus bring forward an early crop, usually by July 4th. 
When he returned from New Jersey he brought samples of Vineland 
soil. Instead of pans of peas to sprout that spring there were pans of 
dirt, samples of Vineland sand and good old Maine loam, baked, to 
illustrate in some way, that perhaps was clear to those most interested, 
the superior virtues of the new land. 

In November, 1863, Dr. Chase and family moved to Vineland. 
Until a house could be built on his land on Park Avenue, west, he was 
glad to be able to secure two rooms on the second floor of the building 
on the northeast corner of Landis avenue and the Boulevard. He 
might try to see to his land but patients would come; there were calls 
for the doctor, and he soon realized that a physician was needed even 
in Vineland. That corner room that was sitting room and sleeping 
room also had to be office. The following summer he occupied as 
home and office the rooms on the first floor of the same building, on 
the Landis Avenue side. His plans being changed, for a village home 
he purchased a lot on the west side of town. Soon seeing his mistake, 
he bought on the northwest corner of Landis Avenue and Sixth Street. 
A small house was on the lot, which he remodeled; the main part of 
the house then, is, I think, now the ell of the building on that lot. 

Of his practice in Vineland I know this, that in times of much 
sickness he was a very busy man. At one time when there were many 
fevers, he practiced and rode continually day and night, for days not 
having rest or sleep. His horse showed the strain first, but another 
horse was procured. So many very sick patients had he, however, and 
the calls so urgent, that there was no time for rest for him, until at 
last, feverish and sick himself, Mrs. Chase was obliged to drive for 
him when he paid his last visits to his patients before going home and 
to bed, from which he did not rise for many weeks. Owing to the hard 
work and illness at this time, he was afterward obliged to give up his 
practice, and that was the reason for his leaving Vineland. 

He Was one of the organizers of the Baptist Church, of which hQ 



9 

was clerk and trustee; when first organized, superintendent of the Sun- 
day vSchool and a bible class teacher. In the town where he had lived 
in Maine he had long taught an adults' Bible class and did all in his 
power to keep up the Sunday School. In A'ineland the home had often 
to be a hou.se of entertainment for the ministers who were to fill the 
Baptist pulpit on the coming Sunday. Usually honored guests, an 
occasional one there might have been himself anxious to be heard. 
It was probably one of the latter, who expressed surprise, and, tho 
hostess thought, disdain, becau.se strawberries were offered him at 
breakfast. He said he had never heard of strawberries for breakfast. 

Dr. Chase was ever true to Vineland's interest. When a Nev/ 
Eiigland paper publi.shed the communication of a former visitor to Vine- 
Imd, ridiculing the town and much misrepresenting it, knowing the 
untruthfulness of the statements made Dr. Chase, when the paper was 
sent to him, felt it his duty to give the readers of that paper a different 
view ol what, by that time, was a promising town. An anecdote he 
enjoyed telling was of his interview with a stranger, who inquired as 
to the mental capacity of the people who were opening up the tract. 
"Were they intelligent?" Dr. Chase pointed to two men who were 
working for him. "You .see those men ?"' Fire had been through the 
woods; the men were employed clearing the land; the timber was black 
with smoke; the undergrowth tore their clothes; they were dressed 
roughly, for their work; soct, dirt, and torn clothing did not make 
them any more presentable. "Those men," said the doctor, "are both 
college graduates." 

In the spring of i86S Dr. Chase sold to Dt. Ingram. In 1869 he 
opened a drug store at Clayton, N. J., where l.*.. continued in bu.siness 
until his death. At Clayton, there being no Baptist Church, he was a 
regular attendant of the Presbyterian Church, and a teacher for some 
time in the Sunday School. With his wife he joined the Presbyterian 
Church there some months previous to his death. 

A man of kindly manners, never aggressive where he differed V^^ 
it is not likely that anyone ever held doubt for a moment as to his 
opinions on any important question. H2 met everyone in a friendly 
spirit. Men who differed with him on leading questions were among 
his friends. Of all who trusted him none w^ere more sure of his friend- 
ship than the children and the young people. The young mechanics 
of Clayton, the children in the families where he practiced, the friends 
of his daughters, all were his friends; he was always interested in what 
concerned them, all were sure of his interest and sympathy. A sincere 
Christian; a man strongly attached to his family, loyal to his friends; 



gentle ana Kina in disposition, wniie tne trouDle of otners might make 
him sad and cause him to feel worried, it could truthfully be said of 
him that to outward seeming he was never unhappy; always generous 
and helpful to all he could help. Two weeks before his death he said 
of his profession : "Had I my life to live over again I should follow the 
same profession." 

After a sickness of ten days he passed into the other life December 
28th, 1879, with the words on his lips, "All is well." 

Pl^AINFIELD, N. J. 






WILLIAM DERBY COOK, M. D» 



Communicated by his daughter, Miss Harriette H. Cook. 



Dr. Cook was born at Geneva, N. Y. in 1807. He received his 
medical education at Geneva Medical College and afterwards attended 
lectures at the Medical Department of Hansard University, Boston, 
Mass., graduating in 1829. He first practiced at Pen Yan, N. Y., after- 
wards at Seneca Falls. In 1834 he removed to Sodus, N. Y. , where he 
remained until 1865 when he removed with his family to Vineland, N. 
J. Here he remained until his death Aug. 13, 1885. 

Not coming here for the purpose of the practice of his profession 
he was not registered as a physician as required of practitioners by the 
law of the state, but he gave medical advice gratuitously on many occa- 
sions, and became well known as especially successful in the treatment 
of some cases of diseases of the eyes, that came under his care. He 
took an active part in the proceedings of the Sydenham Club, and 
always maintained an interest in matters affecting the profession. 

Dr. Cook built and occupied a fine residence on East lyandis avenue 
on ground now included in the domain of the New Jersey Training 
School for Feeble-Minded Children. The doors and lumber for the 
interior finish were of fine chestnut grown upon his own farm in New 
York. He always gave our beautiful Vineland climate the credit of 
prolonging his life. He thought he could not have survived another 
winter in New York, but he lived here twenty years. 

Vineland, N. J. 



HENRY WILLIAM CANSDELL, M. D* 



Communicated by his daughter, Miss Ellen ly. Cansdell. 



Henr}' W. Cansdell was born June 4, 1808, in London, England, 
where he was educated, studied and commenced the practice of medi- 
cine. 

In September 1S29 he married Elizabeth Cardinal, daughter of 
John Argent of Yelleshunt D'Arcy, Essex, England. 

In 1840 he decided to visit America and if pleased with the country 
to settle permanently. He located in Whitewater, Wisconsin, and en- 
joj^ed a lucrative practice. In 1846 he returned to England for a visit 
of two j-ears for the benefit of his wife's health. On his return he 
decided to make his home in America, to become naturalized and to 
study medicine in an American institution. In 1857 ^^ was graduated 
from the New York College of Physicians and Surgeons and from 
Bellevue Hospital College. 

He continued the practice of medicine in Brooklyn until 1861. In 
the fall of that year while in Wisconsin to settle some property, he 
sought and obtained a commission in the army, first in the Artillery and 
later as Surgeon of the 22nd Wisconsin Infantry, This commission he 
held until obliged to resign on account of ill health. The resignation 
was accepted in March, 18G3. 

The winter of '64-'65 he took his family south, mostly for the bene- 
fit of his own health. While there he became interested in Vineland 
through advertisements and letters and determined to visit it on his 
return north. 

He arrived in Vineland April 13, 1865 and purchased four lots at 
the corner of West Boulevard and Grape Street and some wild land. 

Leaving his family consisting of his wife and three youngest child- 
ren, a son and two daughters, to board in Vineland, he returned to 
Brooklyn for his furniture and in three weeks was housekeeping in 
Vineland. 

He soon built a comfortable residence and office upon the lots he 
had bought and continued to practice as much as his broken health 
would permit. 

He identified himself with the interests of the town, being a vestry- 
man of Trinity church and an interested member of the Sydenham 
Club, an association composed of the early physicians of the place. In 
his last illness his fellow members of this club were his devoted and 



12 

skillful attendants. At the meeting after his death, which occurred 
Jan. 28, 1869, the club adopted resolutions expressive of their apprecia- 
tion and respect and directed the Secretary to oommunicate to the fami- 
ily their sympathy and grief. 

Of the nine children born to him six survived him — the three who 
came to Vineland with him and were with him to the last, and three 
others who had married and settled in different western states. 

Vineland, N. J. 



e^Q^<^lcS'53;c) 



FRANKLIN LANE, M. a 



Communicated by Mr. John A. Lane. 



Dr. Franklin Lane was born in Exeter, N. H. on December 6, 
1822. He was educated at Phillips Exeter Academy and at Bowdoin 
College. He studied medicine at Bellevue College, N. Y, and at the 
Berkshire Medical School, Pittsfield, Mass., graduating in 1846. 

In 1855 he went to Baltimore, Md., where he practiced his profes- 
sion with marked success. He was connected with one of the largest 
hospitals in Baltimore for nine years. He went from Baltimore to 
Vineland in 1869, hoping by the change to restore his failing health. 
The genial climate of Vineland had the desired effect upon him and in 
a short time his health was quite restored. 

Dr. Lane had marked literary ability, and was a graceful and logi- 
cal writer. He was a frequent contributor to the medical journals, and 
in the earlier part of his professional career he delivered several courses 
of lectures on Ph5'siolog)', Hygiene and kindred subjects. 

In Vineland he obtained a large practice and made many warm 
friends. He was endeared to many to whom he ministered by his gentle 
and kindly spirit. He was ever more than a professional attendant for 
he felt a warm personal interest in all his patients. He gave especial 
care and attention to the needs of the suffering poor, to whom he was 
always a true friend. 

In 1889 he had a stroke of paralysis, which compelled his retire- 
ment from active practice. He removed with his family in 1891 to East 
Orange, N. J., where he resided until his death which took place July 
24th, 1893. 

East Orange, New Jersey. 



EDWIN CURTIS BIDWELL, M. D. 



Communicated by E. H. Bidwell, M. D. 

Dr. Bidwell was born in Tyringham, now Monterey, Berkshire 
Co., Massachusetts, Feb. 20, 1821. He came of good old Yankee stock, 
for his great-grandfather, the Rev. Adonijah Bidwell, was the minister 
of the Congregational Church of the town for the first thirty-five years 
of its existence, beginning in 1750. 

He was educated first at the old red school house of his nativo 
place, then at Lenox Academy, and at Williams College, still in tho 
*' Berkshire Hills," graduating there in 1841. He graduated from the 
Medical Department of Yale in 1844, ^^^ practiced his profession in 
Massachusetts for about three years and then in Ohio, where he re- 
mained about five years. Removing thence to Iowa, then a very new 
state, while still continuing the practice of medicine and surgery, he 
took an active part (not, however, as a candidate) in the political 
campaign w'hich resulted in the election of the first Republican legisla- 
ture and governor, James W. Grimes, afterwards United States Sena- 
tor. 

While a citizen of Iowa he was appointed a member of the Board 
of Trustees of the State University, an office with no pecuniary com- 
pensation beyond the usual allowance for traveling expenses. This 
position he held until his return to Massachusetts, after about six years 
in Iowa. He practiced again in Massachusetts until the breaking out 
of the war for the Union, entering the military service Jan. i, 1862, as 
Surgeon of the 31st Mass. Vols., continuing until Oct. i, 1865. 

The 31st Mass. Vols, to which Dr. Bidwell was attached was one 
of the six regiments raised in New England by Gen. Butler for the 
expedition for the capture of New Orleans. It was present at the tak- 
ing of Forts Jackson and St. Philip by Admiral Farragut in April, '62, 
and was the first to enter the citv of New Orleans, May i, '62. It re- 
mained in the Department of the Gulf until the close of the war in 
1865, It shared actively in all the important campaigns and principal 
events in that Department, among which were the siege of Port Hud- 
son in 1863; the disastrous Red River expedition in 1864; and the 
investment and capture of Mobile in 1865 Dr. Bidwell waF with his 
regiment on all of these occasions. At some other times he was de- 
tached for other duty. At one time he was assigned to duty as Chief 
Surgeon of the Cavalry Division of the Department of the Gulf, on the 
staff of. Gen. E. H. Davis, Commander of that Divisiau— si*--"-— ""''^ 



H __ „_ , ^._, - 

Governor of Texas. At another time he was by order of Gen. Canby 
Commander of the Department, detailed for duty as medical officer with 
Col. C. C. Dwight, Commissioner of Exchange of Prisoners. In the 
performance of this duty he made many journeys with the Commission- 
er, who was an old friend of his younger days, to several ports on the 
Gulf, and on the River, with ship-loads of Confederate prisoners to be 
delivered, and returning with similar loads of Union prisoners received, 
It was a very interesting, and, on the whole, not unpleasant service, 
continued through a period of several months. 

In 1869 he was appointed Examining Surgeon for Pensions and 
serv'ed in that position until 1881, when he resigr.ed on account of disa- 
bility from accidental injur}*. 

After the war, being in some measure disabled for the arduous 
physical labor of a country practitioner, he purchased a drug store 
just started in the new town of Vineland, and settled there with his 
family in 1866. At first he followed his profession in connection with 
the drug store (Bidwell & Co.), but scon withdrew from general med- 
ical practice, as he found the business of the pharmacy better suited to 
a health none too gccd, even in the milder climate of New Jersey. He 
carried on the drug business till the end cf the century, when he trans- 
ferred it to his son. Dr. E. H. Bidwell.'^ 

Always a wide reader, and specially interested in the natural 
sciences, Dr. Bidwell also in the earlier part of his professional career, 
wrote manj^ articles for the medical journals. One of his original con- 
tributions to the literature of the profession was the report of a personal 
observation of Asiatic Cholera, in 1849, which seemed to answer con- 
clusively the question then much discussed of the portability of Cholera 
infection in the persons of its victims. C 

Two merchants, his neighbors, returning from a trip to the western 
country, made a brief stop at a port on Lake Erie where the Cholera 
was at the time prevailing, nearly a hundred miles from their homes in 
the interior of Ohio. Immediately on reaching home both were at- 
tacked and both died the next morning. Three other persons, mem- 
bers of the two families, also died shortly afterward of the same 
disease. No other cases had occurred before, and none followed, in 
that region for many miles in every direction. 

The lesson which these cases taught, now familiar enough to every- 
body, was then a new one. Of the "germ theory" nothing was known, 
even "spontaneous generation" was still a subject for serious argument, 
and the Cholera bacillus was yet undreamed of. True scientific investi- 
gation of disease had scarcely begun and what ^ve now know of the real 



15 

nature and manner of transmission of the infectious diseases, took many 
years of study and the careful observation of many thousand cases. Of 
the latter, Dr. Bidwell's report was among the earliest. 

The disease of the grape called Black Rot appeared in the vine- 
yards of Vineland in the early seventies. As the culture of the vine 
had become an important and very profitable industry the blight that 
threatened its destruction naturally became a matter of great concern 
to ever)'one interested in the prosperity of the place. Dr. Bid well 
studied it for several successive years with the microscope, and by care- 
ful cultivation of the fungus itself discovered its perfect or highest 
form, which had hitherto escaped detection. Prof. Pierre Viala of 
Montpellier, France, who with one of his associates had made a special 
and exhaustive study of the Black Rot, doubted the discovery until on 
the day of his arrival at Vineland on his scientific visit to this country 
it was shown to him under the microscope. The fungus was after- 
wards, through the courtesy of Prof. Ellis, the eminent mycologist of 
Newfield, named Laestadia Bidivellii. 

Dr. Bidwell has held no municipal office in Vineland except as a 
member of the Board of Health, but has been connected with several 
voluntary associations which seemed worthy of countenance and sup- 
port. 

The Shepherd Book Club, is one of the institutions most thorough- 
ly established among the literary people of the town. Of this he was 
one of the original members and has long been its President. When a 
younger generation formed a new organization on the same lines as 
their elder model they honored him by naming it the "Bidwell Book 
Club." 

For many years he has been one of the active members of the 
Vineland Historical and Antiquarian Association, and on the death of 
D. F. Morrill, Esq. succeeded him as President. 

One of his most recent contributions to the archives of this institu- 
tion, v.as his lecture before it, a small edition of which was printed for 
private distribution, under the title '^The Birth of a New Science." It 
is a tribute to the genius, skill and industry of the great French scien- 
tist, Louis Pasteur, and at the same time an account for non-profession- 
al readers, of his successive studies and discoveries, from fermentation 
to hydrophobia, which demonstrated, absolutely beyond question, the 
doctrine of the microbe— the "germ theory of disease"— the foundation 
of an entirely new science, bacteriology. It is a record of what is, per- 
haps, the most important, certainly, to operative surgery, the most 
valuable, of all the manv advances which have been brinein^ medicine 



i6 

and surgery, and the new "preventive medicine," nearer to exact 
sciences during the sixt}^ years of Dr. Bidwell's professional life; "All 
of which he saw, and part of which he was." 
Pinesliore Cottage, Monterey, Mass. 

EMORY ROUNDS TULLER, M. D. 



Communtcated by his daughter, Mrs. Eleanor Tuller Bonschur. 

Dr. Tuller was born Oct. i, 1824, in tlie northern part of Catarau- 
gus County, New York. He lived there through boyhood and youth on 
his father's farm. Afterwards he went to Cleveland to take up the 
study of medicine. There were no Homeopathic Colleges then, but in 
the college at Cleveland there was a Chair of Homeopathy. After read-, 
ing Hahnemann's Organon he determined to take that course, and 
graduated in it in the late forties. ' 

It was not quite reputable at that time to be a follower of Hahne- 
mann, and he had many interesting experiences of persecution, but 
he had the courage of his convictions always, and was successful in the 
face of it. j* / 

He began practice in 1850, in the little town of Fairl6,eld, Ohio. 
He was married May 15, 1851, to Miss Jane Powers, of Plymouth, 
Ohio. In 1855 he removed to Newark, Ohio, where he remained 
eleven years, enjoying a large and successful practice. „ 

In March, 1866, on account of ill-health of his wife he removed io 
Vineland, New Jersey, where he continued the practice of bis profession 
twenty-five years. He died there Aug. 4, 1891. ; 'f^/^v ;. . 

The world is no longer intolerant of Homeopathy, but lie was one 
of its pioneers, and endured the discomforts, to say the least of them, 
of such. Concerning himself, he was the most reticent and modest man 
I have ever known, and as a physician he was conscientious in the 
highest degree. / 

Philadelphia, Pa. / 

A few additional facts of much interest have been gathered from 
other sources, and nray be introduced by way of supplementing Mrs. 
Bonschur' s all too brief memoir. Dr. Tuller is said to have been the 
oldest as he was the most emiment, practitioner of the Homeopathic 
School in South Jersey. Though tenacious of his doctrine, he was 
liberal in his recognition and treatment of physicians of the old school 
so called. He was not averse to consultation with them, not denying 



*7 
the possible efficacy of their fehiedies, but still claiming that the Hahn- 

emannic preparations were strictly scientific, and preferable. 

Dr. Taller was a pioneer in the introduction of pure unfermented 
grape juice as a valuable article of diet and drink for convalescents and 
invalids. For the production of this article, he established a large plant 
on his grounds, and conducted it successfully to the end of his active 
career. 

He was all his life an earnest conscientious Republican. At the 
beginning of the Civil War he offered his service to the military author- 
ities, which was refused on account of a supposed weak heart, and his 
homeopathy. 

In early life Dr. Tuller was an adherent and devout supporter of 
the Methodist persuasion. It was during his residence in Newark, 
Ohio, he first became acquainted with the doctrines of the New 
Church, into the knowledge and life of which he entered with all his 
heart, founding a church of that denomination in that city. After his 
removal to Vineland in 1866, he founded a society of the New Church 
there, of which he was effectively preacher and pastor and principal 
supporter for many years. Before the erection of the present house 
of worship on Wood Street in 1870, he had conducted services, at one 
period in Merchants Hall, and at another in Temperance Hall. In 
1885 he surrendered the pastorate, and assisted in calling Rev. Adolph 
Roeder to the place. 

WILLIAM TAYLOR, M, D» 



Communicated by Dr. A. C. Taylor. 

Dr. Taylor was born in Newark, N. J. He graduated at the Med- 
ical Department of the University of Pennsylvania in 1846. After 
practicing his profession in Philadelphia several years, he removed to 
Newark, N. J., where he continued in practice twenty-three years. He 
removed to Vineland in the fall of 1873, where he engaged in office 
practice and as assistant in the drug store of his brother. Dr. A. C. 
Taylor. 

His health was in a precarious condition some years previous to his 
death, which resulted finally from heart failure at Vineland, on the 6th 
day of July, 1893. 

Vineland, N. J. 



JOHN INGRAM, M. D. 



Communicated by his daughter, Miss Stella J. Ingram. 

Dr. John Ingram, the subject of this sketch, was a native of Scot- 
land and came to America in early manhood with his eldest brother — 
the family following later. They settled in northern Ohio where he 
obtained his education and became a teacher. One of his pupils who 
afterward became manager of The Gazette, (^Ashland, Ohio) a local 
paper, thus writes of him when the news of his death reached his old 
home: — 

"Dr. John Ingram for many years a resident of this county died at 
Col ton, California, his late home yesterda}- morning, April 5tli. The 
writer of this notice was one of his pupils, and we delight to dwell upon 
his meniorj'', and testify to his great goodness of character. He was the 
soul of honor and honesty, pure minded, brave, noble generous, kind 
and loving. He afterward read medicine, attended lectures and stood 
high in the profession. He practiced for many years at Vineland, N. 
J., until failing health required him to seek for health on the Pacific 
slope. He resided for eight years at Colton in the rich and beautiful 
valley at the foot of the San Bernardino mountains of southern Califor- 
nia. He was one of God's noblemen and has gone to a rich reward in 
the home on high." 

He was an ardent American, a strong Republican, and took an 
active interest in the liberation of the vslave and the welfare of the 
country. He was appointed surgeon of the 75th Ohio volunteers and 
went with his regiment to Folly Island and later to Florida. He was 
captured by the Confederates at Lake City and had a varied experience 
as prisoner of war. At the close of the war he returned to his home 
with health somewhat impaired by exposure and the hardships of army 
life. He decided to seek a milder climate and in the summer of 1865 
removed with his family to Vineland, N. J., where he continued the 
practice of his profession. He led an active and laborious life for a 
number of years but as the time went on he became less and less able to 
attend to his duties; night work was especially severe on him. In the 
umnier of 1 884 he returned to Ohio hoping that a rest and change- 
would be of great benefit to him. There was no improvement and in 
October, 1885, he removed to California. The f^rst few years of his resi- 
dence in California he did some professional work, was a member and 
attended the meetings of the County Medical Society and G. A. R. 
Post — also a member of the board of examining surgeons for disabled 
soldiers, and took an active interest in education, morality, law and 
order. He took occasional trips to the neighboring mountains with 



t9 

marked t^iough temporary ffelief : also almost daily drives thfotigti the 
country around his home where the lovely wild flowers, plants, and 
varied scenery, were a source of great interest and pleasure to him. 
As time went on he grew more and more feeble and had to give up all 
active pursuits. 

The last year of his life and especially the last six months he was a 
great sufferer and spent the time with his family and books, waiting, 
for the end. 

Dr. Ingram was born in Aberdeen, Scotland, December 7th, 1824. 
He studied at the University and Kings College, Aberdeen, completing 
a course in Histology there in July, 1851. Afterwards he graduated in 
medicine at Starling Medical College, Columbus, Ohio. He married 
Margaret Lawson at Ashland, Ohio, October 25th, 1855. He died at 
Colton, California, April 5th, 1894. 

Colton, Cal. 



In addition to the above furnished by Mrs. Ingram and daughter 
Miss Stella Ingram, the present writer while testifying to the excellence 
of Dr. Ingram's character as a man and a citizen and to the value of 
his services as a physician in this place for twenty years, wishes to 
place on record the fact that in addition to arduous professional duties 
he served for several years as President of the Board of Education, and 
was, I think, always its most interested and active and influential 
member. 

He was also for several years President of the Historical and Anti- 
quarian Society, and always interested in its work as in every other 
worthy object of public concern. 

CHARLES ROCKUS WILEY, M. D. 



Communicated by E. H. Bidwell, M. D. 



Charles Rockus Wiley, M. D. , was born at Goshen, Cape May 
County, N. J., November 2, 1844. His father came to \'ineland in the 
early sixties, established himself in business as one of the firm of Hart- 
son & Wiley, general merchants, and built a residence on the lot next 
west to that on which the Baker Hou^e now stands. The mother, 
Mrs. Rebecca Wiley, still living at Cape May with her son-in-law Mr. 



20 

Elbridge Dought}^ brought from the old home, in her hands, Some little 
poplar twigs or cuttings, which she set out around the new house in 
the ground just cleared of scrub oak and stunted pine. They are now 
among the largest of the many fine shade trees growing along the 
Avenue. 

Dr. Wiley graduated at Jefferson Medical College, Philadelphia, in 
1865, and after a short term of service in military hospital, settled down 
to his life work in Vineland, where he practiced continuously, scarcely 
ceasing for a single day except when compelled by serious illness, until 
he died, April 2, 1897. 

Although a general practitioner in the most literal sense he found 
his favorite specialty in the treatment of diseases of the nose and throat. 
For ten or twelve years of his later life he did a great deal of this work, 
drew many patients from distant points and had many brilliantly suc- 
cessful results beyond the ordinary routine. In this as in everything 
else, he was always abreast of the times, fully conversant with the latest 
methods and equipped with the most improved instruments and appli- 
ances. 

During the most active period of his outside practice, he did an 
exceptionally large obstetric business, and later was frequently called as 
consultant in difficult cases. He often said that the worse they were 
the better he liked them. As a general surgeon, within, of course, the 
limits imposed upon practitioners so near a great city, he also ranked 
high. 

Personally Dr. Wiley was a whole-souled, open-hearted man, gen* 
erous to a fault, a hard fighter and a strong friend. His mild eccentric- 
ities, of which he had, perhaps, no more than other physicians, never 
prevented him from being kindly and considerate in the sick room or in 
social intercourse. In everything he did he was enthusiastic, and was 
until ill health overtook him, wonderfully full of life and vigor and with 
a tremendous capacity for, and love of, his work. In spite of his busy 
life as a physician he found time and strength for many other things. 
He was a Democrat, heart and soul, and every campaign, national or 
local, brought out real earnestness and often active participation. 

In the early days of the First M. E. church of Vineland, with its 
membership and financial resources limited by the pioneer conditions 
under which it struggled, Dr. Wiley was one of its most energetic sup- 
porters, putting money, labor and enthusiasm into the work at the time 
when it most needed them all. 

He remained a trustee of the church until his death. 

Later, he was elected to Borough Council at almost the very dawn 



21 

of municipal improvement, and here too he "put his heart in it." To 
him more than any other one man, is due the beginning of sidewalk 
paving and of many other of the things which go to make the town 
what it is. They are now all so familiar as to be taken as a matter of 
course but it was not so in Dr. Wiley's term of ser\'ice in Council, and 
it required vigorous and persistent effort then, to accomplish what no- 
one would think of objecting to now. 

With the instituting of the Training School for Feeble Minded 
Children Dr. Wiley was appointed its physician, which position he held 
during his life. In his official connection, and being also a warm per- 
sonal friend of its founder and first Principal Rev. S. O. Garrison, the 
doctor took his usual active part in the new enterprise, and had a fair 
share in its inception and early management. 

Besides these positions he was, when he died, a director of the 
Tradesmens Bank, and President of the Board of Medical Examiners 
for Pensions for Cumberland County, in which latter official capacity 
his kindliness of nature will be long remembered b)^ many veterans of 
the G. A. R. 

It may be truly said of Dr. Wiley, as he would have wished it to 
be said of him, that he died in the harness. Beginning with a poisoned 
hand and arm, contracted in dressing a purulent wound some four or 
five years before his de .tli, his health gradually broke down. Several 
f.ttacks of the grippe and an ulcerated leg, which for a year or more 
necessitated the almost constant use of crutches, made it a hard struggle 
to keep up against constantly lowering vitality. 

In March 1897 he was again attacked by the grippe, but there were 
then many dangerously sick and he kept at work till he was forced to 
bed by an attack of acute pneumonia to which he succumbed in a week, 
being after the first day, unconscious most of the time. Dr. Wiley had 
a host of friends both lay and professional, who mourned his loss, but 
next to his own kin, those who felt it most keenly were the sufferers, 
and most of all the poor and unfortunate ones among them, who looked 
to him for help in their hour of need, who expected and received, night 
or day, storm or shine, for thirty-two long years, always the pleasant 
smile and cheery word as well as tender sympathy and skillful care. 

Pincshore Cottage, Monterey, Mass. 



CHARLES BREWER, M. D. 



From Cumberland County Biographical Review. 

Dr. Brewer was born in Annapolis, Md., June 21, 1832, son of 
Nicholas and Catherine (Medairy) Brewer. 

The Brewers of Maryland are descended from one John Brewer 
who came from England about the middle of the seventeenth century. 
He was a large landholder in Anne Arundel County, Md. , as early as 
1658. His numerous descendants have now for six generations been 
among the prominent and wealthy people of Maryland. 

Nicholas Brewer, the father of Charles the subject of our present 
sketch, was a lawyer by profession; a member of the legislature in early 
life, afterwards Circuit Court Judge for many years, until his death in 
1864, at the age of 68 years. He was a man of high culture and fine 
taste, and a progressive and public-spirited citizen. He was an out- 
spoken supporter of the war for the Union. 

Dr. Brewer was graduated in Arts at St. John's College, with first 
honors, in 1852. He studied medicine in his native city; afterwards 
with the distinguished Dr, Nathan R. Smith of Baltimore, finally grad- 
uating in Medicine at the University of Maryland, in 1855. He was 
commissioned Ass't. Surgeon in the U. S. Army, Aug. 29, 1856. 

His first service in the army was on the frontier, which in those 
days was always in a chronic state of warfare. He had, of course, some 
rough experiences, and was a participant in some very successful en- 
counters with hostile Indians. In 1858 he was assigned to duty with a 
large force sent to Utah. The arduous march from Fort Leavenworth 
to Salt Lake City was accomplished in about three months of the sum- 
mer of that year. 

Among the most interesting experiences of his two years in Utah 
was that of an expedition to the remote southwestern part of the terri- 
tory to recover several children supposed to be there, the survivors of 
the Mountain Meadows massacre in which a large body of immigrants 
to the number of 140, on their way to California, were waylaid and 
ruthlessly slaughtered by a force of Mormons and Indians. Sixteen 
children, ranging in age from three to nine years, were recovered and re- 
turned to relatives or friends, or otherwise cared for. The remains of the 
murdered parents, unburied and exposed to the elements and to the fangs 
of wolves, were gathered together and buried in one common grave, upon 
which was raised a cairn of rough rocks to mark the spot. Just twenty 



23 

years after the massacre, its instigator and leader, the Mormon Bishop 
John D. Lee, after trial and conviction, was executed on the same spot. 

Leaving Utah in the fall of iS6o for a furlough, Dr. Brewer found 
his future wife at Ft. Rile3^ In January, iS6i, he was married to 
Miss Maria Pendleton Cooke, second daughter of Gen. Philip St. George 
Cooke, U. S. A. While on a visit to the home of his wife's relatives in 
Virginia, he sent in his resignation of his connnission in the U. S. 
Arm3^ After its acceptance he entered the medical Corps of the Con- 
federate Army, and was attached to the headquarters of the general 
staff of the army. He was one of the inspectors who, appreciating the 
intense, but, under the circumstances, unavoidable sufferings of the 
prisoners of war, and the inability of the Confederate authorities to feed 
and care for the immense number of men thrown on their hands by the 
abandonment of the cartel, recommended their unconditional return to 
the Federal government. This was accordingly done. 

Dr. Brewer was present at the death from wound of his brother-in- 
law, the- distinguished cavalry leader, Gen. J. E. B. Stuart. At the 
surrender he was charged with the duty of transferring to the Federal 
authorities, the eight thousand .sick and wounded left in the ho.spitals at 
Richmond. 

After the close of the war Dr. Brewer engaged in the practice of 
his profession in Maryland with much success. In a few years the toil 
and hardships of a large business proved too much for his strength, and 
his health failed. Seeking, like some of his predecessors in this field, 
a change of occupation as well as of location, he came to Vineland in 
1870, and betook himself to farm life. Antaeus- like, he gathered 
strength from contact with mother Earth, and .soon found himself able 
to resume the tools with which he was more familiar. He left the 
farm for the borough in 1876. 

In his new field Dr. Brewer found, besides the work of his pro- 
fession, many opportunities for the exercise of his intellectual powers, 
and his benevolent disposition, in the kind of work for which he was 
especially fitted. He was called early and often, in one way or another, 
to duties and positions of responsibility in Vineland, and in Cumberland 
County, and sometimes to such as reach a much wider range. After 
the resignation of the first rector of Trinity P. E. Church, he was by 
Bishop Scarborough appointed lay reader, in which capacity he offici- 
ated .several years, to the general acceptance and advantage of the 
church, eventually handing it over to a new rector with a largely in- 



24 

creased membership, followed by the erection of a fane new church 
edifice. He was continwed senior warden and Sunday'' school superin- 
tendent many j-ears. He was president, for two successive seasons, of 
the Cumberland County Sunday-School Association, also for many 
)-ears a useful member of the County Bible Society. 

He was for several years president of the Young Men's Christian 
Association of Vineland, which, during the period of his incumbenc}'- 
supported a good reading-room, and conducted a public middaj' praj-er 
meeting every day of the week, except Sundays, when meetings were 
held in the afternoon. 

He was for some years an active member of the Board of Health of 
Vineland. In 1882 he was elected coroner of Cumberland County. In 
1887 l^e was appointed postmaster of Vineland, holding the office dur- 
ing the last half of the first Cleveland administration, much to the 
satisfaction of the community. He was appointed to his present posi- 
tion as resident physician to the prison, April, 1892. 

He was previously a member of the State Charities Association, 
and an authorized inspector of penal and charitable institutions. He 
has been twice appointed by the Governor of the State as its official 
representative to the National Prison Congress, (at Baltimore and 
Chicago) and is at present a member of the National Prison Associa- 
tion, interested in all that pertains to criminology and prison reforma- 
tion. These various associations and appointments clearly indicate the 
benevolence of his disposition and his devotion to whatever promises 
good to his fellow beings, and especially to the erring and the suffering. 

Dr. Brewer is a man of fine classical education, of excellent literary 
attainments, a lucid writer and a fluent public speaker. He is an 
earnest student of the Bible, and rather prides himself on being an un- 
compromizing antagonist of the "higher criticism," 



CONCLUSION. 



^There have been in Vineland always, from a very early period, A 
considerable number of persons who, for some reasons known or un- 
known, carried the title oi Doctor, who yet could scarcely be reckoned as 
belonging to the local medical fraternity. Some, if quite regular, were 
still but transient residents ; some were retired from medical practice, 
possibly engaged in other avocations ; some were specialists ; and some 
there were of w'hom it is perhaps enough to say that they were avowedly 
not regular. In those days dentists and druggists were all Doctors by 
courtesy. The doctorate degree of the dental profession was then 
either unknown or less widely distributed than at present. 

Lemuel H. Aiken, M. D., from Norfolk, Ct., erected and opened the 
first drug store. Remained but a few months, selling out his unfinished 
building to Dr. J. R. Elton, who completed it and conducted the busi- 
ness successfully for many years. 

Dr. E. B. Elagg was practicing medicine in 1866 and at the same 
time part proprietor of the drug store of Parker & Flagg. He left the 
place directly after the sale of that business. 

Dr. Louis W. Brown was a successful Homoepathic practioner from 
1865 to 1885. 

James McClintock, M. D., of Philadelphia, formerly Professor and 
President of Medical College at Castleton, Vt., came to Vineland in 1867 
to establish on the bank of Maurice River a factory of "American" con= 
Crete brick, On the failure of that enterprise he returned to Philadel- 
phia. 

Edward S. Lansing, M. D. had been a successful physician in 
Water to wn, N. Y. He came to Vineland in 1867 with his family for 
change of climate, not proposing to engage in medical practice. He 
did, however, occasionally assist his professional brothers in consul- 
tation. He purchased a fruit farm and a cranberry bog, and later 
engaged in railroad building. In 1874 he removed to Burlington, N. J, 
and engaged in medical practice. He wa> stricken with paralysis and 
died a few years later. 



26 

Dr. Thomas B. Welsh, Dentist, claimed to have graduated -M. D. 
but never engaged in medical practice here. 

Dr. J. Monroe Stebbins came to Vineland about 1870 with impaired 
health. Did not engage in medical practice. He became an agent and 
dealer in real estate. He died in 1S74. 

t)r. W. T. Young, Homcepathic, became a farmer and resided at 
corner of Park Ave. and Main Road. 

Dr. James Caspar Parkinson, Homcepathic, came about 1S69. 
Resided at N. W. cor. 7th and Landis. Died suddenly in 18 — . 

Dr. E. B. Griswold cime from Ontario about 1S70. He was 
located on a farm at N. E. cor. Chestnut and Malaga Roads. Removed 
to Chicago, Ills. 

Dr. Richard Dixie, an aged and retired physician lived awhile at 
4th and Elmer Sts. 

Dr. Halloway was owner of a farm on Chestnut Avenue, west. 
He was already an elderly man when he came to Vineland and lived 
there but a short time. 

Dr. James Jennings, also well advanced in years, came in 1869 and 
had a farm on Chestnut Avenue^ east. He claimed to have received 
his instruction and diploma from the eminent Surgeon, Dr. Valentine 
Mott, of New York, in 1840. He removed in 1882. 

Dr. L. K. Coonley and Dr. J. B. Dunton were prominent members 
of the "Friends of Progress,"' and had doubtless some medical practice, 
chief!}' if not altogether among people of that affiliation. 

In the early days of the history of VaiiOland, there were several 
ladies practicing medicine. Among them were Mrs. Eucinda Wilcox, 
8th and Pear Sts. ; Mrs. A. W. M. Bartlett, Mrs. Caroline A. Paul, 
and some others of transient rer-idence. It cannot be said of an}' one of 
thf^ni that .she filled a large place in the profession. 



TH"R END. 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS M 






014 209 378 9 # 



OFFICERS 



OF THE 



^ineland Historical and Antiquarian Society 



PRESIDENT 

EDWIN C. BIDWELL, M. D. 

VICE PRESIDENT 

PROF. MAROUS WILLSON 



SECRETARY AND TREASURER 

FRANK D. ANDREWS 



